This depends upon a number of things.  Did you invite them?  Were they trespassers?   Were they someone else’s guest (in other words you invited their friend and the friend brought them along).   This may be one of the situations where your homeowners insurance covers you.

Now someone can get hurt in many ways.   They can fall down.  Your kid or you punches them in an eye.  Your dog bites them.  They cut themselves helping prepare dinner or chopping wood for you.  How many of you have had these things happen to you ?  Write us about it.

A.   Believe it or not.  This happens a lot.  Just happened to us.   Your insurance would cover it if you have coverage for it.   Ask your Agent.  If you Agent doesn’t get you this info right away, get a new Agent.

A. .   You can first talk to them that it is very disturbing and distressful for you.   If that fails, call the dog officer.  That is the “cheapest” way out.  You could go to court and get a restraining order as you do have the right to “quiet enjoyment.”   But it is faster to call your Local town dog officer and complain.  Most town have ordinances to this effect.  Whatever you do, don’t threaten or go near the dog.

A.  Assuming they gave you a reason and assuming you feel they are wrong, without hiring an attorney, first comb through the condo association rules to find items that prove they are wrong or unreasonable and make an appointment to sit down and ask them if their objection is the fence or the type of fence you seek to install.    Sometimes, the Boards on the condo associations are wrong but they don’t care so you need to get an attorney if you can’t budge them with niceness and reasonableness.  Sometimes all it takes is a letter from an attorney;  Sometimes the Association still won’t budge and you have to bring suit.   But sometimes also, just because you are legally correct, it might be cost inefficient to go forward.

A  Sure you can and they would have to pay you.   Call them and ask for their insurance company.  Most homeowners insurance covers things like this.  If it doesn’t, and they do not pay you, sue them.  Probably small claims would handle this unless it was a “special” prize bunny, and then if it was, the neighbor might say you should have had the bunny in your office or protected.    If your bunny was loose, you might be partially or even wholly to blame.

A You should let the parents know and they would be responsible in some states for their children’s (tortuous) acts – in other words acts of negligence.  Most states have auto insurance which covers replacing the broken window.  You might do that to have peace and harmony in the neighborhood.  After all, he didn’t do it on purpose.   Always go for the practical , not the legal, if you can get the same results.

A. Think of the lawyer as an insurance policy.  If you don’t have an attorney and all goes well, you are lucky.   The attorney makes sure the closing figures are correct; he or she should be drawing or reviewing the initial Agreement to make sure your interests are protected.  If you are using a broker, remember that the broker is not an attorney.  Most attorneys will give you a flat fee for specified representation.

A   Yes.  Attorneys are instilled with confidentiality and trustworthiness.  There are a few bad apples but the majority of them are honest and adhere to strict standards of ethics.

A.   You obviously know the condition exists, so I would say you already know the Answer.  By letting this condition persist, you are being negligent.  You are contemplating that the condition might cause someone to trip.   Get it fixed.

A.   Just generalizing but just because there is no railing does not necessarily mean you need one to avoid negligence (unless your local building ordinances mandates that there should be one).   If someone falls and injures themselves walking up or down the steps, they should be careful walking seeing there is no railing.   If the someone has a hard time with steps and you know that, perhaps you should warn them in advance.   Also,  not knowing  how wide these steps are, etc. , I would use the reasonable man theory.

A.      This is almost the same question as up above .  Just happened to us.   I would say that assuming it was an act of God (in other words, you were in no way negligent, (or vice versa), each person would be responsible for his own loss.   The problem is ,when it gets to be too expensive, one neighbor might want to try to prove that the other neighbor was negligent .  In our case, we felt that the cost of $500 was worth being a “good” neighbor even though legally we felt we were not responsible.   Sometimes the practical answer is quite different from the legal answer.

A quick solution is to go to the Building Inspector in your Town and tell him it’s on your land .  If the Building Inspector does not do anything, you can bring suit and would most likely prevail.    Now the practical approach before you bring suit is to tell the Building Inspector that you understand that the attorney you engage might have to bring him in also as a party Defendant if he gave the neighbor a building permit to put up the fence.(assuming local ordinances require a permit).    When all else fails, you will have to bring suit and ask that the Court order him to take the fence down and reimburse you not just for the damage to your land, if any, but for attorney’s fees.

I call that the “not-me syndrome”.    If you did not take before and after pictures.   (I always carry a camera with me, especially with todays’ digital cameras (but this is not a web site about the benefits of carrying a digital camera) it comes down to your word against theirs.   If you are sure that they are the culprits and they will not do anything, you must first get one or two legitimate estimates to repair the damage and check the small claims limits in your District.   Depending upon the damages, you might be better off to bring small claims.      If it is much more than small claims, perhaps you can engage an attorney to represent you on a time basis and he might be able to negotiate a settlement with a letter of representation to nudge the company to respond favorably.

Simply put, unless they can prove that you were negligent, you have no liability.

You can call him and ask him nicely to return.   If after calling him several times and he doesn’t return, you can either get estimates and bring small claims, or you can just badmouth him and never use him again.      Depends upon how much aggravation you can take.    If you really can’t live with these floors, and the cost to fix them is larger than the small claims action is allowed in your District, seek an attorney to bring suit.  Make sure you have all your information documented with pictures, receipts, etc.  The less time the attorney has to spend, the less it will cost you.

A.  You are not responsible at all .   Another question is how long was the dog in your yard.  Did you know he was there?  Did you do anything to get him aid?   Then we might have a different answer, but on the above facts, it is highly unlikely any one would hold you responsible once they find out the circumstances.

A.  Assuming you did not do anything “negligent” or to “cause the intrusion”, you are not responsible at all.   Practically speaking, if she feels you ARE responsible, you might want to settle it for little money.   It might cost you more to defend it.    You should check with your insurance agent to see if you would be covered for this.  If you are, let them handle it.    It is unusual for a bat to come in as opposed to field mice, etc.